For me this week was less stressful – probably because I have finished the electronic marking process for National Exams and Teachers’ Certification Exams, which lasted over 5 weeks and went on alongside with our online course; or, maybe, because it was a bit lighter in terms of its technological fulfillment. Anyway, I am happy that the following weeks I will have more time to focus on my project plan, and, hopefully, finish the course successfully.
Fostering Learner Autonomy, reshaping and reconsideration of teacher’s roles in this connection, the interconnectedness between learner and teacher autonomy – these were the key points in this week’s readings. As usual, we were offered interesting material to read on these issues:
1. An article by Dimitrios Thanasoulas “What Is Learner Autonomy and How Can It Be Fostered?” at: http:// iteslj.org/Articles/Thanasoulas-Autonomy.html/., in which the author give a profound analysis of the term “autonomy”, conditions for learner autonomy, learning strategies (cognitive and metacognitive). He also connects the lerner autonomy to learner attitudes and motivation and their self-esteem. I particularly liked the part in which he shares his ideas about the ways of promoting learner autonomy through self reports, diaries and evaluation sheets.
2. “Bird-in-the-hand or Bird-in-the-bush? “ by Samuel Sheu , in which the author discusses a question about interconnectedness between teacher autonomy and learner autonomy on the example of Taiwanese schools at: http:// http://coyote.miyazaki-mu.ac.jp/learnerdev/LLE/8.1/sheuE.html/.
3. The latter issue is further developed in a very interesting conversation between Richard Smith and Andy Barfield at:
http:// coyote.miyazaki-mu.ac.jp/learnerdev/LLE/8.1/smithE.html/.
In our discussion posts most of my colleagues agree that learner autonomy depends to a great extent on teacher autonomy. I learned that in many countries, and my country is no exception, teachers work under administrative constraints to fit their syllabuses into the school curricula. But only teachers’ freedom in deciding upon the material and the syllabus does not guarantee fostering the learner autonomy: and as Juliet noted in her post, everything depends on the teacher’s professionalism and creativity.
In view of encouraging learner autonomy with the help of technology, we were suggested to think about one-computer lesson options: http://www.susangaer.com/sgaer/onecomputer/wordprocessing.html/.
http://www2.drury.edu/dswadley/101/.
I should confess that I was really impressed by my course mates’ excellent ideas, their creativity and urge to change things to the advantage of their learners.
Thank you all for that!
Dear Bella,
ReplyDeleteI particularly enjoyed the article written by Dimitrios Thanasoulas because it is an overview of the subject of learner autonomy with many references to source materials. I think learner autonomy is a result of a classroom where the learners are respected and responded to as individuals, not just a homogeneous group of students.
I agree with you that our colleagues have very creative ideas. I liked the one-computer lesson plan you created because it's a very practical and creative way to introduce technology into the learning environment from day one. I'm curious about the reading list for this class. Which American and English short stories are included in the syllabus?
All the best,
Janet
Dear Janet,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interest. As I mentioned in my post, the first term of this three-term course is dedicated to the stylistic interpretation of Short Stories. We do some short stories by Erskine Cladwell, Katherine Mansfield, Ernest Hemingway, Arnold Bennet, Shirley Jackson. As students are also given some theory as well to learn, basically the main stylistic devices to operate with during the analysis, we cannot do more in class. But then they are given the freedom to choose any short story by the author they like most, and prepare a presentation.
All the best
Bella